Old-time music fans brave the heat for Charlie Poole Music Festival

By Miranda Baines

Published: June 14, 2008

The weather was hot in Eden Friday evening, but that didn’t keep the hard-core old-time music enthusiasts away. Folks from as far away as Washington state camped out at the Eden Fairgrounds to take part in the 13th Annual Charlie Poole Music Festival.

“We’re on a cross-country road trip,” said Rick and Carolyn McKinnon, of Olympia, Wash. They said Eden is the farthest they’ve ever traveled to attend a festival. Rick loves Charlie Poole’s music and he loves claw-hammering, a style of music where you use your whole hand rather than picking the strings.

The festival was off to an exciting start, as the New North Carolina Ramblers took the stage at 5 p.m. The group got the crowd pumped up with a rendition of “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down,” the song that put Charlie Poole’s band, the North Carolina Ramblers, on the chart. Kinney Rorrer, great-nephew of Posey Rorer, one of the members of the North Carolina Ramblers, leads the New North Carolina Ramblers. As a special treat, guitarist Darren Moore’s 3-year-old son Bailey sat in with the group on the fiddle.

“He loves the music. He likes to sit up with us and play along,” said Rorrer.

The excitement grew as the evening wore on. While Martin & Johnson, an old-time string band trio, were playing a catchy tune, Jane Largen of Stoneville got up on the dance floor and flat footed in front of the crowd.

“That’s our roots,” said Largen, of flat-foot dancing. “It’s good fellowship for people our age,” she added. She has been dancing since she was a teenager and still dances three or four times a week. 

“It’s just a happy music from hard times long ago,” said Jim Vipperman, a master Appalachian fiddler who taught youth workshops at the Charlie Poole Music Festival on Friday. Vipperman said teaching the workshops was his way of “giving back.” He said the rhythm is what makes bluegrass music what it is, music that has a beat that makes you want to tap your feet.

Back before the days of television and the Internet, people would get their entertainment from going to barn dances, he said. It was an escape from the stresses of everyday life, such as working in the Spray Cotton Mill, as Charlie Poole did.

“It was self-made music. They didn’t wait for someone to entertain them. They entertained themselves,” said Rorrer. And according to Rorrer, Charlie Poole was a “natural-born entertainer.” Poole didn’t know how to read music. He could barely read his name. But when he did his signature three-finger roll on the banjo, people noticed. Poole and the other members of the North Carolina Ramblers entertained the men who came down from the mountains in the 1920s to work in the mills in the town of Spray.

Poole was instrumental in making bluegrass music what it is today, said Rorrer. Poole recorded “White House Blues” in 1926. Numerous bluegrass musicians have done renditions of “White House Blues” since Poole’s first recording of the song. Poole’s style was also unique.

“Charlie’s band had a very tight-knit sound with a heavy syncopation and Charlie used a three-finger roll on the banjo, which was a forerunner to bluegrass,” said Rorrer.

Dave Freeman is one of the men who has kept Charlie Poole’s music alive. Freeman did the first reissue of Charlie Poole’s music in the 1960s on the County label. He received a lifetime achievement award Friday night at the Charlie Poole Music Festival.

“He has just done a wonderful job of preserving this type of music and we’re excited to have him with us tonight,” said Louise Price, president of the advisory board for the Charlie Poole Music Festival. Chris King, a member of the Piedmont Folk Legacies advisory board and Rebel Records recorder, said Freeman has been a “ceaseless promoter of bluegrass and old-time music.” He also said Freeman has been instrumental to the creation of the [bluegrass] festival scene.

Later Friday evening, Waking Up Tillie, a group from Oxford, Pa., took the stage. Randy Johnson’s fiery fiddling and Pete Peterson’s three-finger banjo style were dynamic, while Kellie Allen backed the guys up on guitar. The group is known for its two-part and three-part vocal harmonies.

Allen said her favorite song that Waking Up Tillie does is “Where the Morning Glories Grow,” originally recorded in the 1920s by the Cofer Brothers. She said the group tries to “honor the tradition of old-time artists,” such as Charlie Poole, but infuses its style into the old songs to give them a new touch. This year is Waking Up Tillie’s first time performing at the Charlie Poole Music Festival, but the group has competed at the festival in the past.

“We love it. We are so thrilled to be here,” said Allen. “This festival is a high point for us to come to each year.”

Waking Up Tillie won the old-time string band contest last year and Peterson won the grand prize three-finger banjo contest. The Charlie Poole Music Festival continued Saturday with old-time and bluegrass contests in a variety of categories for youth in the morning and for adults in the afternoon. The headliner, the McPeak Brothers, took the stage at 8 p.m.

• Staff writer Miranda Baines can be reached at or 349-4331, ext. 35.